Tagged 'Brand Experience'

Despite any rumors or fears to the contrary, the digital revolution has changed the world for the better.
Although constant requests for our money and attention bombard us from every screen, the Internet facilitates instant discovery and meaningful learning that yield a huge impact on consumer/brand interactions. People keep getting smarter, savvier and quicker to discard marketing that provides no utility. That’s why classic advertising tropes like status symbols and selling the illusion of perfection just don’t work anymore. We don’t buy into the inauthentic brand experience.
So, in the throes of this sea change, how can brands stay afloat?
Fight Irrelevance with Authenticity
Yes, but how? By providing utility and brand experiences that help people live their ideal lives, complete a desired action, pursue their goals (mundane or sublime) and move toward their vision of the future, you demonstrate your brand’s willingness to treat people like human beings, not suckers.
This great article in Digiday got us thinking about the delivery of authentic brand experiences. Written from the P.O.V. of globally successful brands, the article features insights from top marketing executives about how not to be just another noise in the night, but a force for reality in people’s lives.
While the respondents do a... Read more

No, omnichannel is not big brother. It's an enhancement to the overall consumer experience and ultimately an increase in revenue...and brands that are successfully adapting understand that digital and social are leveling the playing field and recreating the customer experience, not to mention the meaning of their brand promise.

No, omnichannel is not big brother. It's an enhancement to the overall consumer experience and ultimately an increase in revenue...and brands that are successfully adapting understand that digital and social are leveling the playing field and recreating the customer experience, not to mention the meaning of their brand promise.

It has long been accepted that we create stories to cognitively process and order our experiences, gain perspective and to structure the world. People use stories to understand who they are as individuals and as members of society. The importance of narrative as a communication tool is undisputed.
Consumers also interpret their exposure and experience with brands via narrative thought processes. For example, if you ask someone ‘why did you buy a Volkswagon?’ you might get a personal story of how the purchase fits with their needs or prior experiences “I had a Civic before, but with two kids now, I did some research and feel a VW is the safest car in its class; it’s the smart choice.”
Advertising has long been (implicitly) aware of the power of storytelling. Some adverts tell complete stories, some continuing stories, like the famous 1980’s Nescafe Gold Blend couple (voted most romantic advert of all time in the UK), while others encourage self-generated narratives by evoking simulations of product use. Consumers then overlay these stories onto existing narrative structures and connections are made.
But as we shift to the new model of digital media, are we losing the opportunity to tell stories?
In Matt Spangler’s series ‘The... Read more

Why do we get hooked so easily by questions?
Ever been chatting to a colleague when a “oh, what’s his name, you know, that actor, you know, that TV series, big in Germany…” moment arises? Days later, ‘Eureka – David Hasselhoff!’ you’ll shout, and feel gratified, even relieved? Then you realise your brain had been quietly beavering away at that question? Curiosity. Once piqued it becomes an implacable force that must be sated. A natural instinct that both stimulates and drives behavior.
Leo Burnett believed curiosity was the secret of great creative people. Stimulating curiosity is a known educational approach. Comedy works by tantalizing us with questions before side-swiping our expectations with off-kilter answers. In film and literature, curiosity is used as ‘cliff-hanger’ moments or attention grabbing headlines like “5 Things You Did Wrong Today.”
My belief is that curiosity is an evolutionary formed predatory instinct – quite simply, food comes to those who seek it out. Then, as evolved hominids, this cognitive process morphed into an innate desire to explore the mysteries of our world.
So why does curiosity have this hold on us?
Let’s begin with the neuroscience of curiosity. As Jonah Lehrer from Wired wrote, results from an fMRI experiment at Caltech... Read more